Before Sora
by Raberba girl
Summary: Ventus is such a sweet boy...and yet, the pure darkness that is Vanitas had to come from SOMEWHERE, right? My take on what Ven might have been like as a child, before he was broken and before his heart encountered Sora's.
1. Part 1

Before Sora  
><strong>(ROUGH DRAFT)<strong>  
>A Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl<p>

Summary: Ventus is such a sweet boy...and yet, the pure darkness that is Vanitas had to come from SOMEWHERE, right? My take on what Ven might have been like as a child, before he was broken and before his heart encountered Sora's.

**A/N: I feel like this fic needs some warning labels, but I honestly have no idea what they should be. I personally don't find any of it disturbing, but I think some people might.**

**I want to take Lulu's magic out of the final draft, since it started making me uncomfortable, but I'm running out of time to post this, so I'll have to put up with it for the rough draft. *wince***

The reason that the main characters for this fic are Ventus & Vanitas is because they're still a complete being at this point, you know? o.O Vani fans, plz don't get upset because he's "never onscreen" or something...

o.o.o

He stared sullenly at his feet, his cheeks hot with humiliation. Yazoo and Loz held his arms and laughed as Kadaj went leisurely through his pockets, inspecting the contents and making fun of everything that was not munny. The rest of their fourth grade class was gathered around watching with great interest, even Lulu and her friends. Ven could not look at her. If he had, he would have seen an expectant, half-disappointed expression on her face.

"You have a _cigarette lighter_?" Kadaj was now exclaiming in gleeful disbelief. "You were retarded enough to bring a _cigarette lighter_ to school?"

Yes. Because he had been entertaining the thought of using it to set the Jenova triplets' bikes on fire.

"I cannot _believe_ anyone would be so stupid." Kadaj clicked a small flame into life, laughing as it trembled in the sunlight. "Pathetic little thing, isn't it. You two were made for each other." He began to bring the flame close to Ven's face. Ven jerked and struggled, but the boys held him fast, and he watched in terror as it got closer and closer.

"That's enough, Kadaj."

Everyone turned, shocked and awed that anyone other than an adult would dare to interrupt.

Of course it was Lulu. She put one hand on her hip and surveyed them with distaste. "Do you know how much trouble you can get in for hurting someone like that? They won't care if you're just a kid, they'll put you in _jail_."

"Not if we tell 'em widdle Ven-Ven 'accidentally' burned himself with the freaking _cigarette lighter_ he brought to school," Kadaj said with relish.

"Who do you think they're gonna believe, Kadaj? The straight-A student whose father is on the school board, or the gang of loser delinquents who only show up to graffiti the lockers and shake down other kids for munny?"

Kadaj frowned, and the other kids all gasped in excitement. "You gonna snitch on us?" he murmured, a dangerous glint in his eye.

"Lulu," Ven said weakly, "don't-" Loz punched him in the mouth, silencing him. He hung his head again and watched bloody saliva drooling out of his mouth, clenching his hands into fists. If they hurt Lulu, he would kill them...he would really and truly kill them...

"Aw, look, Lulu," Kadaj was laughing. "The little loser wants to _protect_ you. Isn't that cute?"

"Why don't you let him try, instead of ganging up on him?" she snapped.

Since Ven was not looking at anyone, he missed the gesture Kadaj made at his brothers. They released him so abruptly that Ven fell to his knees, scraping the skin off his palms as he caught himself before he met the pavement face-first. He looked up at Kadaj, who was cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "Well? You gonna take a shot at it, loser?"

Ven stared at him. He glanced warily at the other two, and then with deep hatred at the crowd of watching kids. He could not even face Lulu, the girl he wanted so much to impress and yet who probably thought he was lower than dirt.

Ven slowly go to his feet. This was so stupid. Kadaj was just going to beat him up again, and even if Ven somehow miraculously won, Yazoo and Loz would just take him down in the next minute.

"Well? You gonna fight me or not?" Kadaj taunted.

Ven ran. He heard everyone yelling behind him, and because he did not see Lulu hold up a hand and cause the lighter to burst into flames, he had no idea why the Jenova triplets were not seizing him. All he knew was that he had not been caught yet, that he had been humiliated yet again, that the girl he liked knew what a horrible, horrible coward he was...

The teacher, who had been too busy gabbing on her cell phone to notice the disturbance at the other end of the playground, now snapped at Ven to get back here, where was he going? Ven ignored her. He turned the corner and went straight for the ladder bolted to the back of the cafeteria building, climbing up until he had reached the roof.

It was one of his safe havens, where the air was clear and he could feel the wind. Ven huddled in a corner, eyes closed as he listened to the breeze play through his hair, and wished that he was a different person.

o.o.o.o.o

It was easy enough to slip down among all the other students once they had been dismissed for the day. Ven wove through the crowd, deciding it was not worth going back to retrieve his backpack. He had no friends to wait for, no one to walk home with, he simply ambled down the main road through town, looking in shop windows and stalling. Home was not a place he particularly enjoyed being.

"Oi!" A shopkeeper had come out, shaking his fist as if Ven was a dog to be chased off. "Don't you dare come snooping around my store again, you little thief!"

"I wasn't gonna steal anything this time," Ven mumbled. Honestly, one or two little shoplifting incidents (or maybe more than two...), and everyone got all bent out of shape forever.

"Just get out of here before I call the cops."

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Ven slouched on past, trying to decide if he was angry enough to egg the guy's windows tonight. No, somehow they always knew when it was him, and he would get in so much trouble...again. His mother was acting weird enough these days, and the unpredictability made him nervous.

He finally ended up going down to the beach, which had the usual Friday afternoon crowd. He wanted to go out and swim, to lose himself in the sound of the waves, but he stood out like a sore thumb in his school uniform.

He skulked up by the touristy shops instead, wandering by the surfboard rental, the lifeguards' station, and various refreshment stands.

"Ooh, look, it's that little loser you stuck up for today."

Ven's head shot up. There she was, Lulu looking wonderful in a black and purple swimsuit, sitting at a table with her friends and the parfaits they had bought from the nearby cafe. She was frowning at him. Ven swallowed nervously. "You're right," was all she said.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" the same friend huffed, now addressing Ven. "No one wants to see your loser face. Go bother someone else."

Ven's hands clenched into fists, and his neck felt hot.

"You don't have to be rude, Alyza," Lulu said quietly. "He may be a coward, but that's no reason to stoop to being cheap and petty by insulting him."

He was not worth enough to even warrant an _insult_ from Lulu. Unable to stand it anymore, Ven ran again.

There was a car in the driveway. Recognizing it, Ven groaned and ran around to the back of the house where his room was. He climbed onto the trash can, then jumped to catch the edge of the porch roof and swung himself up on top of it. He started walking over to his window, but tripped and accidentally knocked some of his toys off the roof. By the time he climbed into his bedroom, his mother was standing in the doorway. He froze.

"_There_ you are!" she exclaimed. "I thought I heard a racket. Why didn't you come straight home?"

"..."

"Hurry and change, we have a visitor." She swept out again.

_'Yeah, I can tell you were _really_ curious about why I took so long to get home from school.'_ Ven clambered the rest of the way inside and changed into his rattiest T-shirt and jeans. Then he reluctantly made his way downstairs, kicking the walls as he went.

Sure enough, Mrs. Jenova was sitting in the living room. Ven stared at her beautiful, silken, silvery hair, and had to fight the urge to seize fistfuls of it and yank it out of her stupid head.

"She brought her new baby!" Ven's mother cooed, steering him over to the carrier sitting on the floor.

Ven glanced into it. The infant blinked clear aquamarine eyes at him, almost as if it was studying him. Its head was topped with silver-blue fluff that looked as soft as a cloud. _'You're as ugly as your big brothers,'_ Ven thought vengefully. He was tempted to say it out loud, but knew that his mother...would not react well.

"Isn't he _precious_?"

"..."

"It makes you want to have a little brother to look after, too, doesn't it?"

"Not really."

"Oh Ven, you're so silly." Ven's mother squeezed him so tightly that he made a sound like "guh." Then she sat down and started chatting with Mrs. Jenova again. As soon as Ven could tell that they would not notice, he slipped away to the kitchen and sneaked some cookies out of the pantry. It was not like he deliberately meant to 'spoil his appetite,' he just...felt like eating cookies.

That evening, he picked sullenly at his dinner.

"How was school today, Ven?"

"Fine."

"Did you learn anything interesting?"

"No."

"What's the matter, sweetheart? Why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry."

His mother frowned dangerously. "You didn't eat any sweets, did you?"

"Of course not," he scoffed. "I know better."

His father laid a hand on her arm. "Honey, did you and Ven get to have a nice talk today?" he asked meaningfully.

"Oh, well..." Ven's mother took a deep breath. "Ven? Sweetie?"

"I _told_ you, I didn't eat any cookies!"

"That's not what I- Ven, listen to me. Ven!"

He reluctantly brought his eyes to hers, and stopped kicking the table at his father's warning look.

"Ven," his mother continued, "you would like to have a little brother or sister, wouldn't you?"

"Nope."

"...But if you did. You wouldn't mind, right?"

"I'd drown 'em."

His mother gasped and slapped his face. Ven stared at her in shock, trying very hard not to cry.

His father hurriedly came over and knelt down by Ven's chair, taking his hands. "Ventus, your mother is going to have a baby in a few months. We are very, very happy about this, and we know that you will be, too. Babies are wonderful, you know - you'll get to help take care of him, and teach him things-"

Ven pulled free and stormed into the pantry, where he dug out a box of cream cakes and began cramming them into his mouth. His shoulders tensed in anticipation, but neither of his parents came to stop him.

o.o.o.o.o

He was not upset enough to have forgotten his plans for revenge. Ven awakened at 5:00 that Saturday morning. Then he quietly dressed himself all in black, crept down to get a package of Pop-Tarts from the kitchen, and slipped out into the dark, cool morning.

He ate his sugary breakfast as he made his way to the Jenovas' house, creeping along in hiding wherever he could rather than using the main roads.

The boys' bikes were on the back porch. Ven looked hard at the windows, making sure that they were all dark and either covered or showed no sign of movement. Then he tiptoed to the porch and pulled a knife out of his pocket.

o.o.o.o.o

He sat on the beach to watch the sunrise afterwards, feeling more peaceful and more relaxed than he had in days. Barely anyone was here at this hour. The light looked absolutely beautiful playing over the water, seeming to dance in the rippling waves. When the sun's rays were finally shining full on his face, Ven got to his feet and dusted sand off his pants.

He wandered back to town, wondering how to kill time until the ice cream shop opened. There was a stick on the ground...he picked it up and experimentally whacked it against the side of a building. _'I wish this were a real sword.'_

As he continued on, he got to an intersection between the main road and a shabby little street that was pretty barren except for a few small, eccentric-looking houses. There was a little girl there, maybe six or seven, crying beside a tall, twisting tree. A man in a worker's uniform was trying to comfort her. "Come on now, honey, stop crying, I've just called the fire department. They have a big ladder, they can reach the top of that tree with no problem. I have to get to work now, but will you promise to be a brave girl and wait for them?"

"Yes, Daddy," she sobbed.

He kissed the top of her head. "It will be okay, sweetie. Be good today."

"I w-wiiiiiiill!"

He patted her on the back sympathetically and then walked away. Ven quickly stepped into the bushes to hide as the man passed, since he had been chased off once or twice before by overprotective parents. Then Ven ambled over to the crying girl and looked up. High in the branches was a little ball of gray fluff, mewing pitifully. "Is that your cat? Did he climb up there and get stuck?"

"Y-e-eeees!"

"What a dumb cat," Ven remarked, gauging the distance and the footholds between ground and target.

"Waaaahh!"

Ignoring her, Ven took a running leap and seized a branch that stretched out just over his head. He braced the soles of his shoes against the bark and scrambled up, aiming for a fork in the trunk where he could rest a second and grip a branch in the next-highest level.

As the girl watched anxiously, Ven made his way up the tree until he had gone as far as he could without braving the smaller branches that would probably not take his weight.

The kitten hissed at him and started to back away.

"Oh, no you don't, you little rat." Before it could get too far out of reach, Ven flung himself on his stomach and managed to seize one of its back legs, clinging tightly to the branch with his legs and his other hand. The kitten squeak-yowled, and Ven cautiously tried to adjust his grip. As soon as he had pried its claws out of the wood, it wriggled frantically and bit him. He yelped, nearly dropping it. "Friggin' _monster_!"

Using some language that he would not have dared to utter within earshot of his mother, Ven resisted the urge to squeeze the kitten until it popped, instead managing to scoot back along the tree limb and shove the animal in his pocket. Then, hissing in pain and irritation as it dug its claws into his flesh straight through the fabric of his pants, he began the long climb down.

It was a little harder going down than it had been to climb up. He kept having to crane uncomfortably over his shoulder to see where he was putting his feet. At one point, he misjudged the distance, stumbled, lost his grip on the branch he was holding onto, and went plunging.

A sudden strong wind whipped up, and for a second, he had the weirdest sensation of arms catching him. Then he hit the ground, just barely remembering to angle his body so that he wouldn't land on the kitten and end up with a pocket full of gore.

"Ash!" The little girl ran forward and frantically dug the animal out of Ven's pocket. It felt a little like being mugged by Kadaj again, which he resented. "You're okay!"

"You're welcome," Ven said pointedly as he climbed to his feet, but the girl was too busy snuggling and cooing over her precious rat to notice.

Ven looked down at himself, assessing the damage. His hip felt a little sore and he had a scrape on his elbow, but otherwise, he seemed remarkably unscathed. _'Huh. Thought I'd be bruised more, falling out of the tree that high.'_

He turned back toward the main road and then froze when he unexpectedly met a pair of appraising black eyes. "L-Lulu," he choked out. She was standing there on the corner, watching him. Shame flooded his body as he remembered their last few encounters; she had to think he was scum. Unable to bear her attention, he plunged out of sight between two houses and began making his way through people's back yards, trying to put distance between himself and the girl who hated him.

It was pretty interesting, seeing the backs of strangers' houses like this. No one was out, they were probably sleeping in at this time of the morning on a weekend, not lounging in their yards. Ven hurriedly snuck past the back doors where people could be seen inside, but at the quieter houses, he paused to explore a bit.

Lots of yards had toys left out. He slipped a cowboy action figure and a water pistol into his pockets, then discarded them later to make room for a little red car with flame designs and a slinky. The pom-poms on a kid's bike caught his fancy, so he pulled off a green one and tied it around his wrist. Someone had also left out a black marker. He used it to draw his gang symbol on every fence he passed, the one he had made up in case his _real_ father, who was a mafia boss or a ninja warlord something cool like that, ever came back to claim him.

His guard was so relaxed by the time he reached an occupied yard that he had actually already drawn his symbol before he turned around and saw the old lady lying on the grass. "Ack!" He jerked back against the fence, the marker dropping from his hand.

The woman smiled at him. "Hello, love."

He stared at her.

"It seems like you've come just in time. I'm having a bit of trouble, you see," she said, her voice sounding a little strained and breathless.

"Why are you lying on the ground?" he asked warily. "You look weird."

"Yes, well, my walker is still packed away, and I thought I could make do with a cane, but I was sadly mistaken." He could now see the stick lying nearby. "Would you be a dear and run down to one of the neighbors to ask them for help?"

"No way! Are you _crazy_?" He couldn't let people know he was here, he would get _ridiculously_ in trouble.

"Sometimes people say I am," she remarked. "Oh dear, I hope Annie gets back soon..."

Ven slowly approached. "Did you, like, fall down, and now you _can't get up_?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Well, I might be able to get up, but it hurts a bit, so I'm afraid to try. I'd rather an adult be here, so I'll just stay put until then."

Ven laughed and sat down by her head. "That is really, _really_ pathetic," he told her appreciatively. Finally, he had found someone who was more of a loser than he was.

"The elderly often seem to be," she said regretfully. "What's your name, honey?"

"I'm not your _honey_. My name's Ventus."

"Ventus," she repeated with a smile. "As difficult to touch as the wind, aren't you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ah, don't mind me, I'm just rambling..."

It suddenly occurred to Ven that they might not be as alone as he thought. "Are you the only one home?" he asked quickly.

"Yes, unfortunately...my daughter Annie was helping me get moved in, but she ran out for a bit to run some errands. She should be back soon, though."

Ven quickly stood up. "I gotta go."

"Ventus..." For a moment she looked distressed, but then her face cleared. "You know, we'll be able to hear her opening the front door, it's downright squeaky. You'll have plenty of time to run off before she gets to the back."

"I'm not running away!" Ven said hotly, immediately plopping down again.

She reached out and patted his knee. "You're a good boy," she said softly.

"No, I'm bad. Everyone hates me."

"Well, that's not true, Ventus. I like you very much."

"Why would you do that?" he said disbelievingly.

She smiled again. "Well, you are a very good conversationalist. I've found our conversation so far to be very interesting."

He felt hot, and squirmed a bit.

"Do you live nearby, Ventus?"

"Over on Cloud Street," he mumbled. "Call me Ven."

"Oh, I do like that. Whoever nicknamed you has good taste."

"Everyone calls me Ven."

Just then, a woman came around the corner and gasped as soon as she had a good view of the yard. "Mom!"

"Oh, Annie, there you are."

Ven jumped to his feet.

"Mom, what'd he _do_ to you!" Annie cried, running to her mother as Ven backed away.

"No, darling, Ven was just keeping me company while I waited for you-"

"He's a _hooligan_, Mom!" She turned fierce eyes to him, apparently about to start a tirade. "You!"

Ven ran.

o.o.o.o.o

Ven had learned by this time that people automatically assumed you were guilty when you ran, so when he saw Officer Carlson heading purposefully over to him, he stood his ground. He simply put on a haughty expression as he continued to lick the ice cream bar (that he had _bought with actual munny_, thank you very much), held the man's eyes steadily, and locked his joints in an effort to hide the fact that he was shaking. "Is there a _problem_?" he asked when the man was within earshot.

Carlson used his "I'm-nice-so-let's-be-friends voice, which meant that Ven still had a chance to escape if he played his cards right. Unfortunately, he rarely did; Carlson was a lot smarter than him. "Good morning, Ven," the officer said pleasantly. "Out for a walk?"

"Uh huh."

"That's good. Mornings are usually the best time for a stroll."

"Mm hm."

"Say, Ven, did you happen to tell your parents where you were going?"

"...I left a note."

"I see. Well, unfortunately, they must not have seen it, because they're pretty worried about you."

"They're still asleep. They don't even know I'm gone." Wait, that sounded bad. "But they know I like to take walks on Saturday mornings, so they won't be worried."

Carlson sighed. "Ventus, they called me."

Crap. Not a good sign when Carlson started using his full name. "Oh...well, guess I should go see what they want," Ven said nervously, edging away.

"I think that's a good idea. Here, I'll walk home with you, keep you company."

"That's fine, I can make it back on my own," Ven said quickly.

Carlson gave him a long, serious look. "Ventus. I got one or two other phone calls this morning, as well."

Crap, crap, _crap_. Probably that Annie woman. He was gonna have to go break one of her windows soon. "I...don't...see why that should have anything to do with me," Ven said awkwardly.

Carlson folded his arms sternly. "Ventus. You have a choice here. Is there anything you'd like to tell me, or would you rather discuss things with your parents?"

Ven glared at the ground and took a big, rebellious bite of his ice cream. "Let's go home," he growled through the resulting brain freeze.

Now that Carlson had gotten his way, he was back to his nice voice, keeping up a friendly, one-sided chatter all the way back. Ven shoved his hands in his pockets and trudged along sullenly, taking a tiny bit of pleasure in ignoring the officer and not getting punished for it. Carlson was not one to kick a guy when he was down.

Ven's mother opened the door before they even reached the porch. "Oh, you found him!" she cried in relief. She grabbed Ven and hugged him protectively. "You haven't heard from Jen, have you?" she asked, her tone anxious.

"No," Carlson said seriously. "However, though I haven't committed anything specific to record yet, it would be in your best interest to contact a Miss Anne Wilson on Seagull Lane. She and her neighbors have a situation that I will need to address if you don't."

Ven squirmed uncomfortably as she gripped him harder. "Thank you," she said tightly.

Carlson nodded politely and headed back out.

Immediately, she seized Ven by his collar and one arm and dragged him into the living room, flinging him onto the couch as he screamed, "No! No! Wait, Mom, no!"

"What did you _do_?" she screamed back. "Where have you _been_?"

"Nowhere! I-I went and got some ice cream!"

"_You were at Jen's house!_"

"NO I WASN'T!"

"_She SAW YOU!_" she shrieked, so close that flecks of spittle landed on his cheek.

Ven covered his face with his left hand to shield himself, since she was still pinning his right arm. "No she didn't!" he cried back, surprised to find himself sobbing.

"She got up to feed the baby and _she saw you_! What did you think you were _doing_?"

"I didn't do it," he wailed despairingly. He was finished. All he could do was go down fighting.

"Do you know how much munny it's going to cost to fix those bikes? And I don't even _know_ what you did to those poor people down on Seagull! Are you _trying_ to get picked up by the police again?"

"I didn't do anything...I didn't do anything..."

"_Don't_ give me those puppy eyes, they are _not_ going to work," she growled, flipping him over.

"Nooooo!"

"Honey," Ven's father intervened, "I thought we had decided to sit down and talk with him first."

"That was _before_ I found out what he's been up to this morning," she snarled.

"Honey, just calm down for a minute, I don't think you being so upset is good for the baby..."

She began taking deep breaths, and her hold loosened. Ven instantly wriggled free and tried to make a run for it, but his father caught him, sitting down and wrapping him securely in his arms. "No! No! _No_!"

"Ventus! Ven, settle down, we're just going to talk."

"I didn't do it!"

Ven's mother opened her mouth heatedly, but stopped at her husband's pleading look.

"Ventus," his father said, "you don't have to lie, we already know that you went to the Jenovas' house this morning to sabotage their bikes. Why did you do that?"

"I didn't!"

"You want me to get the soap?" Ven's mother threatened.

He clamped his mouth shut and shook his head frantically.

"Your father asked you a _question_, and if you don't answer it with the truth, you're gonna _wish_ you'd ended up in jail!"

"Honey..."

"K-Kadaj stole my munny again yesterday," Ven choked out past the lump in his throat, still straining unsuccessfully to get loose. "H-He and the other two p-pick on me all the time."

"That is ridiculous, the triplets are all very nice, gentlemanly boys."

"They're nice to _you_!" Ven shouted. "They kiss up to the grown-ups their mom likes and then when no one's watching, they beat up other kids and steal stuff and break stuff and they're more bad than _me_, they really are! They _are_!" he screamed desperately, seeing his mother's disbelieving look.

"Honey," his father said reluctantly, "maybe we should talk to Jen-"

"Absolutely not! I'm not going to accuse my best friend's sons of being hooligans with no proof, _especially_ right after she witnessed my own little hooligan vandalizing her property!"

"I...I see what you're saying, but...well, he wouldn't be this upset over nothing, would he?"

They both looked at Ven, who had slumped forward and was sobbing as if heartbroken.

"...Why does our little monster have to have such an adorable face...?" Ven's mother took a deep breath and then reached out, tenderly brushing his spiky bangs out of his eyes and wiping the tears off his cheeks. "Sweetheart, you're really unhappy about Sora coming, aren't you. The baby," she explained in response to his blank look. "We're not sure if it's a boy or a girl yet, but we decided to name it Sora."

Ven stared at her. He had not even thought about the baby since yesterday.

"Sweetie, you're not the only one, there are lots and lots of kids who find out that they're going to have little brothers or sisters. It won't be a bad thing, I promise. You'll love Sora when he comes!"

Ven studied his mother's glowing, hopeful expression. "Am I still in trouble?" he asked cautiously.

His mother sighed. "Well, since you've already lost your allowance for the rest of this year, you're going to have to start doing extra chores to pay us back for fixing the bikes." She frowned. "And I still don't know what kind of havoc you wreaked after stopping by Mrs. Jenova's house."

"..."

"What, did he do something else?" his father asked in confusion.

"_Apparently_," his mother growled, "Ven didn't stop with the Jenovas. Officer Carlson talked about some people on Seagull Lane who filed complaints."

"Ahhh..."

Ven hunched his shoulders in shame at the hurt sound of his father's sigh.

His mother, her touch no longer gentle, grabbed his chin and forced him to meet her eyes. "What did you do?" she demanded.

"N-Noth...ing..." Lying was so habitual for him by now that he did not even realize he was doing it for a second. "I mean, no, wait," he said quickly, imagining the chalky taste of soap on his tongue, "I-I just went...and...trespassed." That seemed like the safest of his crimes. "I was...wandering around in...people's yards."

Her eyes narrowed. "And what did you _do_ while you were violating strangers' private property rights?"

"I...I...kicked some things...and...a lady came out and yelled at me," he said haltingly.

"His heart is beating pretty fast," his father observed.

She tightened her grip on his chin. "Ventus Caelum King, are you lying to me?" she demanded.

He could not speak, just stared at her with tears starting to drip down his face again.

"Why does he do that?" she shouted. "How can he do such horrible things and then _look_ at me like that and break my heart!"

_'It's working?'_ Ven thought in surprise.

"Honey, I think we should believe him, at least until we have more information. But first...you remember what we were talking about earlier..."

Ven's mother sighed and released his chin. He immediately turned his eyes back to the ground, glaring as he tried again half-heartedly to get loose.

"Ven. Sweetie. Your father and I were thinking."

Ven tried sliding down out of his father's arms, but simply got hauled up again for his trouble. The man was strong, very patient, and very used to this.

"We know that you don't have many...well...that is, you obviously don't get along with the Jenova boys, and there's not really any other...um..."

His mother having trouble expressing herself was so rare that Ven paused, eyeing her with wary curiosity.

"We thought it would be fun for you to have a little friend to take care of," his father explained. "You know, someone to talk to when you get lonely and don't feel comfortable talking to us."

"I told you, only babies have imaginary friends," Ven said quickly, wondering if they'd overheard him talking to Zidane again earlier. He _knew_ Zidane was not real, it was just...nice to pretend that someone actually listened to him sometimes, for a change.

"What? No, I meant..."

"Ven, we're going to let you have a pet," his father said. "We'll let you pick something out, a turtle or a frog or maybe a bird. Nothing big, just someone to keep you company and...help you out a little."

Ven blinked. "How is a turtle going to help me?" _Beat up Kadaj and them_, was what he meant, though he knew better than to say this aloud.

"Well, the child psychology book said it would," his mother grumbled cryptically under her breath.

"Huh?"

She shook her head. "Never mind." She got to her feet, tiredly running a hand through her hair. "I'd better call that lady and see what the total damage count is..."

Ven went cold, and started to struggle again. "All I did was walk on her lawn, if she tells you anything else, she's a liar, too, I really didn't steal anything, or draw on anything-"

His mother's eyes narrowed. "Who said anything about drawing?"

Ven gulped.

"Don't let him escape," she ordered, and marched into the kitchen where the phone was. "...Hello? Yes, this is Sapphique King, I'm *deep sigh* Ventus King's mother. I heard he was, er, around your neighborhood this morning..."

Ven looked up at his father and opened his eyes wide. "Daddy?"

His father sighed. "Don't even start, Ven."

Eyes. "...Could you please-?"

"Wait until your mother gets off the phone."

Eyes...eyes... "Daddyyyy?"

He hesitated. "...Do you promise not to run off if I let you go?"

Before Ven could answer, his mother's shriek echoed through the house. "HE DID _WHAT_?"

Ven ditched the puppy eyes approach and fought hard.

"Oh my God! ...Oh my God! ...No, no, he'd never-! ...Oh, God, no, I know he can be a pill but he'd _never_ do that, he wouldn't- Oh- Oh, wait, please, just wait one moment, I have to ask- _No_, please, don't, the police have already talked to me, we're trying to work something out- Hello? Hello?"

There was a long, long pause.

_'I'm dead,'_ Ven thought. Though it wasn't like trespassing or theft or graffiti were anything new, so he was not quite sure why his mother sounded so horrified.

She came storming back into the living room. "You sent an eighty-seven-year-old woman to the _hospital_?" she thundered.

Ven gaped at her.

"He did what?" his father exclaimed.

"Apparently _this boy_ assaulted an elderly woman on her own property, and now she's in the _hospital_!"

His father's arms went slack from shock. Ven himself was too astounded to take advantage of this. "I...di-didn't...do that," he said faintly.

She swooped down and seized his arms, her nails digging into his skin.

"I didn't do it! I didn't do anything!" he shrieked. He had never been more terrified in his life. This was different, somehow, than all the other times he had gotten in trouble. She really did look like she was going to kill him. "I didn't! I _swear_! I didn't hurt her! I only talked to her! Don't!"

"How could you _do_ something like that?" she hissed.

"_I didn't_!" It was horrifying, almost suffocating, this utter desperation to be believed when, for once in his life, he was telling the truth.

"What should I _do_ with you?" The rage drained out of her face, and, to Ven's shock, she started to cry. "What are we supposed to do?" she sobbed. "What do they expect me to do about him? Lock him up? Have him committed? Pack him off to some boot camp? I can't _handle_ him anymore! I'm pregnant and I should be enjoying my new baby but instead I'm _constantly_ worrying about this little _monster_, and I can't _do it anymore_! Agh! If Sora turns out like him, I'll drown him and then I'll _kill myself_!"

Ven fell out of her limp hands and stared up at her, trembling and speechless.

"Honey, honey, just calm down, it will be all right, we'll get this straightened out." Her husband gently led her away, sparing a concerned look over his shoulder for his son, but unable to split his attention.

Long after they were gone, though he could still hear her muffled sobs, Ven crept to his room, pulled the quilt off the bed to wrap around his shoulders, and shut himself in his closet, where he tried to dissolve into the darkness.

o.o.o.o.o

He must have fallen asleep. He jerked upright when the closet door opened and stared up at his father, his eyes sore and bleary.

"Ven...you need to come out and get dressed in some nicer clothes. We're going to visit Mrs. Wilson in the hospital and see if we can get to the bottom of this."

Ven pulled the quilt over his head and burrowed deeper into it.

"Ventus..."

Brisk footsteps thumped across the carpet. Ven tensed as he sensed his mother's approaching presence.

"I'm _through_ with this, Ven," she snapped, apparently more or less back to her old self. "If you give us any trouble, I _will_ call the police and have them come and take you away forever. Get up. Get _up_!"

Sullenly, he crawled out of the closet and mumbled that he didn't want to go.

"Well, _I_ don't want to do a lot of things, but I do them anyway. _I_ don't want to get calls before six o'clock in the morning on a weekend from someone saying that my son is running around slashing bike tires. _I_ don't want to spend my Saturday driving around town trying to keep you out of jail. _I_ don't want to-"

"Okay, okay, I'm going!"

At the hospital, Annie Wilson said angrily that she did not want "that little horror" anywhere near her mother again, but after Mr. King had gone in to introduce himself, the old woman responded in a cheerful, easygoing tone. "Oh! You're Ven's father, then? How lovely! It was so very kind of you all to come visit me. Of course you can let him in, I'd love to see him!"

Ven's mother dragged him into the room and marched him over to the bed, where he stood glaring at his shoes. "This is the boy who attacked you," she said shortly. "I am deeply, deeply sorry for my son's actions, and will do everything in my power to make amends."

"Oh my, no, no, I think there's been a mistake. Annie, what have you been telling people? My goodness, it was all my own fault, being too adventurous! Ven just came over to introduce himself and keep me company while we waited for help to come, isn't that right?"

"I didn't push you over," Ven mumbled. "You fell down yourself."

"Yes, that sounds about right."

His parents were staring at her. "So...Ven _didn't_ hurt you?"

"Mom," Annie protested, "he's not like Raye or the Mendez boys back home. I've seen this kid throw rocks at stray cats before. You just moved here, you don't know anything about him, but I _do_! I come home and find that he's got you on the ground - don't try to cover up for him!"

"I didn't _do_ anything!" Ven cried in frustration.

"Annie," the old woman said quietly, "maybe I'm a fool like everyone says, but I wouldn't tell the kind of lie you're accusing me of."

"I didn't- It's not that I-!"

The old woman smiled and reached out to take Ven's hand. He flinched. "Thank you for coming, Ven," she said warmly. "It looks like this was a hard thing for you to do, but I truly appreciate it. I'm glad to see you."

He squirmed uncomfortably. "I didn't push you over," he mumbled. "I wasn't lying. I didn't even know you were hurt." She had, however, asked him to go and get help, but he had refused, and she had not insisted. He had been so stupid. His face went hot with shame, and he could not lift his eyes from the floor.

"Oh..."

He tensed as his mother's grip on him tightened, but then he realized that she was only...hugging him?

"Oh!" Mrs. King burst into tears, holding her son tightly. "You don't know...how relieved I am," she sobbed. "I thought...I thought he'd crossed the line for sure...I didn't know what to do...oh, you don't know how horrible it's been...every day it's _something_, getting in fights at school, shoplifting, breaking things, getting calls from the police two or three times a week, I have Officer Carlson on _speed dial_, running off to who knows where all the time, everyone in town complaining to me, lying lying _lying_ through his _teeth_, and he's only in fourth grade, sometimes I can't _breathe_ thinking about what he'll be like when he's older, and I'm so terrified for the baby coming, I don't know what I'm going to do... Sometimes I think...sometimes I wish..."

_'She hates me,'_ Ven thought dully, not for the first time. _'I hate me.'_

"Now, now," the old woman said soothingly, patting Sapphique's arm like she was a little girl. "There's something to love in every child, every single one. Why," she chuckled, "I myself was a little hellraiser back in the day...believe me, honey, my own mother, God bless her, could get just as frazzled as you. Don't worry, you have a fine son. He's a very handsome young man." She smiled, and even Ven, trying to look everywhere but at her, could not miss her expression. "Such clear blue eyes. I know he can be very sweet if he wants to."

"Don't let those puppy eyes fool you," Mrs. King grumbled, trying to wipe her tears away. "He may have the face of a cherub, but he's a little monster inside, you have no idea."

The old woman was grinning straight at him. "Ah, but we know better, don't we, Ven?"

"No. I really am a monster," he told her, and did not understand why she laughed.

Mrs. King stayed to work out details with the Wilsons, and Ven's father took him out to one of the waiting rooms. Ven slumped low in a chair and pulled the toy car out of his pocket, running it along the empty seat next to him.

"Well," his father finally said, "that's a relief."

"What is?"

"That you...well... Heh, Mrs. Wilson seemed to like you, didn't she."

"She's real dumb."

"Ventus," his father said reproachfully, "you shouldn't talk about other people like that."

"Well, it's true."

He sighed. "Aren't you glad that she stuck up for you?"

"Yeah."

"She seemed like a very kind person."

"..."

There was a long silence. "Ven," his father finally said, "are the Jenova boys really giving you trouble?"

"..."

"I just...thought that since you were right about Mrs. Wilson, maybe..."

"..."

"So, Ven," his father finally said, giving up and changing the topic, "have you thought about what kind of pet you would like to get?"

"No."

"Oh. Well...I guess you can just look around the store and see what catches your attention."

"Mm." Ven paused. "I want an elephant," he said experimentally. An elephant could step on Kadaj and Yazoo and Loz and squish them.

"Urk...well, we don't really have a place to keep an elephant, right?"

"..."

Ven's mother came out and plopped into the chair next to him, sighing loudly. He snatched the little car out of the way just in time. "Thank _God_ she didn't actually break anything. She'll be able to go back home soon." Then Mrs. King turned sideways in her chair and frowned down at Ven dangerously. "You lied to me. You just said that you trespassed."

"I didn't lie! I _did_ trespass!"

"You also neglected to mention that you drew graffiti on ten houses, and one or two people told Annie that things are missing from their yards or were tampered with."

"I-! I...!" He could not think of anything to say that would get him out of this.

"You will be spending your weekend cleaning all that up, and-" Her eyes zeroed in on the car. "Where did you get that?"

"I've always had it."

"You have _not_. I've never seen it before."

"I...got it...as a prize. From school."

"You stole it."

"N-!"

"You _stole_ it!"

"I was gonna give it back!" he burst out, though he had had no intention of doing so before this moment.

His father sighed. "I guess that was a bad time to bring up the pet idea gain...it would seem like we're rewarding him for bad behavior."

"Not if we spank him first and _then_ take him to the pet store," she decided. She stood up and seized her son's arm before he was able to bolt. "Let's go get this over with."

"No! _No_! I don't want a pet, wait, Mom, no, I'll make it up some other way, I'm sorry for being bad and lying and being disrespectful, no, wait, noooo...!"

o.o.o.o.o

He forgot to keep sulking as he looked down into the pen, where little balls of fluff were yipping and wrestling together or sleeping.

One black-and-brown creature came romping over to investigate his lowered hand, sniffing at it and then giving it an enthusiastic lick.

"Ven," his mother said quickly, "you can look, but remember, we did _not_ come here to get a dog." The puppy rose up and set its paws on the side of the pen, gazing up at Ven adoringly.

"Aw, he likes you," a salesgirl laughed as she passed by. She seemed like a college student and her face was unfamiliar, which might explain why she was so friendly and not giving Ven dirty looks like all the older employees were. "Would you like to hold him?"

Ven tore his eyes away from the puppy to stare at her. "You'll...let me?" He had been meaning to ignore the "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH US, WE ARE VERY SENSITIVE!" signs and pick up the animal himself, but it was surprising to hear someone make the offer first.

"Of course! Come over here to the play area." She lifted out the delighted puppy and placed it in Ven's arms. Chocolate, as Ven had already started calling it in his mind, lunged forward and licked him on the nose. "Ha ha! You think you're so cute," he laughed, rubbing the puppy spit off his nose with one hand and cuddling Chocolate closer with the other arm.

He was fully absorbed and did not notice his parents staring at him. "Dear," his mother said faintly, "when was the last time you saw Ven smile like that?"

"...I can't even remember."

"You think you're just _adorable_," Ven was cooing. "You think you're gonna win me over so that I'll love you and play with you and give you doggie treats forever and ever, but no, it's not gonna work, it's _not gonna work_," he crooned, obviously already head over heels.

His mother folded her arms and looked away as her husband asked how much it would cost to buy the black-and-brown puppy. The answer made him wince, though that did not stop him from reaching for his wallet.

_To be continued..._

Author's Notes: **Again, I have a feeling this fic needs warning labels, I'm just not sure what they should be. I pretty much work in special education for a living, so I don't know what it's like reading this fic with a different sort of background.**

The idea for this fic came when it occurred to me that there's a disconnect between the Ven we all know and love, and the epitome of evil that is Vanitas. We also only get a glimpse and a half of Ven before Sora touched his heart - really just the scene where Vanitas is born. The scene in the Awakening where Ven first met Sora almost doesn't count, since Ven was a (literally) heart-broken space case at the time. So I reasoned out what Ven might have been like when he still had all that darkness in his heart and his behavior wasn't affected by Sora, and I threw in my theory that he and Sora are actually brothers or cousins, and this is what I came up with. I had a hard time trying to balance the Ven-chan and Vanitas aspects of Ven's personality, and I'm not sure I succeeded, but I wanted to at least make the effort.

**By the way, I wrote all this at the same time as **_**Christmas at the Castle**_ - that is, I had the idea and wrote the first page, finished drafting CatC from the Disney Town chapters to the end, then returned to this fic with a vengeance until I used up the notebook and had to switch to a new one. After that was when I posted CatC and other fics, but the point is that the puppy eyes thing was still new when I originally wrote this. AND LOL, Mrs. Wilson was originally 86 rather than 87, because again, this was first drafted before AkuSai became my OTP. XD

"Caelum" means "sky" in Latin. This was the fic where I originally came up with Ven's full name for my headcanon (as well as Sora's/Ven's mom's name), so I'm really glad that I got to post this before I used the name for my MUCH more recent "Stepsiblings" series. And that other fic that I've been excited about and hope to post soon.

**Among the many things that I'm sure I got wrong, I'm ignoring whatever negative effects Sora might have suffered from developing in the womb of a woman under constant stress from trying to raise a kid like Venitas and then having him go missing...** Also the fact that the mother of a missing child probably wouldn't let her second son go gallivanting off unsupervised on the smaller islands.

I'm totally convinced that Jenova is Riku's mama. LOOK AT THE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN HIM AND HER OTHER KIDS (Seph, Kadaj, etc.). Unmistakable!

I always thought it was supposed to be "Yazuu," but then I read somewhere that a "yazoo" is a little stream flowing off a main river, which makes sense.

Ven's "gang symbol" is the Unversed insignia, of course. Ftr, mafia bosses are not cool, that was just Ven's opinion. o.O


	2. Part 2

_Before Sora_, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl

Part 2 **(ROUGH DRAFT)**

"Ven, don't feed the puppy bits of your hamburger."

"Chocolate likes hamburger."

"I know he does, that's not the point."

Mr. King pulled up by the house and leaned over to kiss his wife. "I really do need to stop by work today, but hopefully I won't be long. You'll be all right?"

"As well as can be expected," she grumbled, unbuckling her seatbelt.

Ven got out of the car and pulled out Chocolate, who was wriggling in delight at having a new place to explore.

"Don't let him go," his mother said quickly, "we need to get inside."

"But he wants to see the yard."

"Yes, but he _can't_ right now. Take him to the house, Ven."

"But-"

"_Do as I say_!"

That was a tone Ven knew better than to mess with (most of the time), so he pressed his lips together and carried Chocolate inside.

They set up the main bathroom to temporarily accommodate their new pet, since it was the room in the least danger of getting damaged. Chocolate sniffed around with great interest as they set up a barrier in the doorway, laid out a sleeping cushion with a basket of toys next to it, spread out some newspaper, and filled the food and water bowls.

"You like your new room, Chocolate?" Ven's mother crooned. The puppy licked her fingers and then romped over to Ven, grabbing his sleeve in its little teeth and tugging hard as it growled playfully. Ven laughed and tugged back, showing total unconcern for the sound of ripping stitches.

"Chocolate!" his mother exclaimed, snatching up the puppy and struggling to get Ven's sleeve free of its mouth. "No, bad dog, don't bite people's clothes!"

Chocolate wriggled madly and licked her face in automatic apology. She smiled, despite herself, and reached for a thick chunk of rope, dangling the end invitingly in front of the dog's face. Chocolate instantly seized on it.

Sapphique soon went to take a much-needed nap ("_Do not_ leave the house, or so help me I will _take Chocolate back to the store_"), leaving Ven to play with the puppy to his heart's content. For quite a while they were fine with amusing themselves where they were, but eventually, Ven got restless. He decided to show Chocolate the rest of his new home. "Well, this is the hallway, and my room's over there-"

Chocolate set off purposefully, sniffing at everything as if it was a very serious matter.

"This is the front hall...that's called a plug, you'll electrocute yourself if you stick your nose in it...those are umbrellas...no, you can't go out, then Mom will take you back and we'll never see each other again."

Chocolate moved on to the living room, where Ven looked around nervously. "Chocolate...be careful in here, okay?" After many, many unfortunate incidents, Ven's mother had given up on keeping her living room nice and had instead made Ven-proofing it a higher priority, but that did not mean it was now completely immune to damage. "Mom'll kill me if we break anything..."

Chocolate navigated his way into every corner and around all the walls, taking particular interest in the leather couch. "Chocolate, no!" Ven exclaimed when he realized that the puppy had started chewing on it. He hurriedly pulled Chocolate away and inspected the corner. There were visible tooth marks. "Urgh..." Well, it was here in the back, and his parents would probably never notice it. "Listen, Chocolate, you have to be reeeaaally good, because I'm bad enough for both of us. Be a good boy, okay?"

The puppy licked him, wriggled out of his arms, and continued exploring.

_Crash._

o.o.o.o.o

Ven's mother woke up in time for her doctor's appointment, had a fight with Ven over whether or not to take him and the dog along, went to the clinic, came back, realized that her grandmother's ballerina statuette was missing _and_ that the china closet key had been moved, and eventually found the shattered ballerina hidden under Ven's bed.

She very nearly punished him until she acknowledged that he _had_ been good by not leaving the house while she was asleep (as far as she could tell, anyway). Besides, she did not have the heart to resist his tears, which were genuine for once in his life. So she just sat there with her grandmother's destroyed heirloom in her hands and cried. When Ven put his head in her lap and said that she should lock him in a cage too when she went to take Chocolate back to the store, she hugged him and they cried together.

o.o.o.o.o

Ven woke up the next morning with his usual grumpy grogginess until he was startled fully awake. Something had licked his cheek.

_'Oh yeah!'_

He had a dog now. Chocolate licked him again and yipped. Ven hugged him. "Good morning, Chocolate." He sat up and flung the covers back, which was when he finally realized one of the reasons why his mother had refused to let Chocolate sleep with him last night. "Ew! Man, you need a diaper."

His mother was already up, drinking a glass of juice as she paged through the newspaper. Ven stared at her apprehensively.

Sure enough, "I noticed that the dog wasn't in the bathroom this morning," she said conversationally.

"He was crying. I couldn't leave him in there."

She set down her glass and stood up.

"Chocolate peed on me," Ven said quickly, hugging the dog. "My bed's all gross."

"Well," she said briskly, "looks like you'll be doing your own laundry on top of spending the rest of your day cleaning up graffiti."

"Can Chocolate come?"

"Absolutely not."

"Oh, please, Mommy, why not?"

"Drop the puppy eyes and go put your sheets in the wash."

o.o.o.o.o

It was hot, and his arms ached. This was only the third fence, but he felt _exhausted_. His mother got to sit in the shade on the porch with a cold drink and chat with the house owner's wife about pregnancy and babies, but _he_ was forced to stand out here in the sun and scrub until his arms felt like they were about to fall off.

Stupid marker! What was _in_ that ink, anyway? It wasn't coming off! He did not want to have to repaint the whole fence like the second house owner had said he would have to once it became clear the ink was there for good.

"I need a break!" he yelled at his mother.

"You just had one ten minutes ago!" she yelled back.

"That wasn't a break, I just sat there and drank water!"

"I really hope you weren't expecting more, because I promise you won't get it."

Ven mumbled something under his breath that made her suddenly rise threateningly out of her chair.

"_What_ did you say?" she demanded ominously.

"N-Nothing! NOTHING!" he screamed. Full to bursting with anger, he flung the brush at the fence, and when that did nothing to assuage his feelings, he kicked the unyielding boards, then picked up the brush again and gouged violently at the wood with the plastic handle. He sensed his mother storming over to him at that point, so he flung himself at the fence, got himself over it in a mad scramble, and took off running.

It was a horrible afternoon. Ven hid and skulked and tried to stay out of trouble, but he was already _in_ trouble. Carlson seemed to be around every corner, eluding him was so hard. Ven did not dare show his face on the streets, he could not go home where his father would surely have gotten a phone call from his mother by now, he was afraid to go to any of the kids' hangouts where Kadaj's gang might be lurking... Also, he missed Chocolate. What was the point of having a puppy if he couldn't even play with it?

There was nowhere else to go. It would not have even _occurred_ to Ven to hide here if he hadn't walked right past it, and even now, he was pretty mad that he was forced to take shelter in this stupid place. Unfortunately, he was out of options.

So Ventus sat there on the school roof and made a gun shape out of his fingers and pretended to shoot animal-shaped clouds, because there was _nothing else to do_.

The sound of girls' laughter startled him. He crawled over to the edge of the roof and watched as Lulu and her friends milled around in the courtyard below. _'What are they doing here?'_ he thought in amazement.

Practicing for a play, apparently. They all had booklets that they either read out of or referred to from time to time. Lulu was the only one who did not even look at hers except between "takes." She was also the only one who seemed to be serious about the project at all. "Guys," she sighed after about the twentieth time of the others making a dumb joke and setting off everyone into high-pitched laughter, "we have to perform on _Thursday_. Let's try to focus, please."

"Lu, that's four days from now," someone pointed out. "We've got plenty of time!"

"Shari, you don't even have all your lines memorized."

"I told you, I'm working on it! Besides, I can just improvise if I forget anything."

Lulu was silent for a moment. Then, "All right, fine. Everyone put your scripts away. Just for fun, let's see if we can do the whole scene straight through without checking our lines. Improvise if you can't remember what to say."

They were all such giggly morons that it took a ridiculously long time for them to prepare, but at last, the scripts were all piled on a bench and the girls had taken their places.

Lulu imperiously swept in among them, as if entering a room. "Gather 'round, girls, I have received excellent news."

"Oohh, really? What is it, what is it?" the girls squealed as they bounced over to her. _'Just like a bunch of brainless chickens,'_ Ven thought.

"I am pleased to announce that the Edgewood property has been let. Rejoice, girls - Sir Thomas Knightley is now our neighbor, and he is single."

Girlish squealing followed. Ven was very tempted to chuck something down at their heads.

"Umm, is he handsome?" one girl asked.

"Yes, very. And quite amiable, too, according to Mrs. Billings."

"Oh, that's great!" someone yelled too loudly.

"Oooh, I really wanna marry him! Is he rich?"

"5,000 a year," Lulu said in satisfaction.

"Eeeeee!"

"You have to get us introduced to him, Mother!"

"Does he have a Porsche and a big screen TV?" someone else asked mischievously.

There was a pause. Then all the girls burst into laughter - except Lulu, who simply waited.

"My gosh, Margo!" someone laughed. "You just cannot shut up about the Porsche, can you."

"I am telling you, Sir Thomas has a Porsche, the girl asserted smugly, as if she was happy about throwing a wrench in the rehearsal.

"He does _not_ have a Porsche, or any other car, this play took place 200 years ago!" a dorky-looking girl in glasses complained.

"I don't care. Sir Thomas has a Porsche. Maybe he has a time machine."

More idiotic laughter. "I bet he totally uses it to sneak pizzas and stuff back home."

"L-O-L! 'Delivery from Hot-'n-Fresh!'" someone laughed.

Lulu finally spoke up. "Guys, this is exactly what I mean. We can't joke around like this on stage. And Michelle, you forgot to mention the neighbor cleric. That's important setup for later on. We need to get our act together and start taking this seriously."

"Aw, relax, Lulu!"

"Seriously, we're not gonna say that kind of stuff on _stage_."

Ven was pretty fed up. "You guys suck," he shouted down at them.

They all whirled around, screaming, looking hilarious as they tried and failed to find him for a second. Only Lulu calmly raised her head and met his eyes, as if she had already known he was there.

They finally noticed where Lulu was looking and figured out where he was. The shrieks were indignant and gleeful. "Eeeewww!"

"It's that _loser_!"

"Ugh, he's spying on us!"

"What a sicko!"

Ven hunched down, cringing.

The girls continued to jeer at him. Then Lulu suddenly raised her head and stepped forward. "Ventus," she called up, her voice light and clear. "Will you please come down here?"

"No!" he yelled.

"Please?"

"NO!" He actually kind of wanted to, just not with her horrible friends around.

Lulu paused. Then she said, "I promise they'll back off. Please, Ven, I really want to talk to you. Fair warning, I will _make_ you come down if you still refuse."

"Just try it!" he shouted, his chest tightening in a strange, eager sort of anticipation.

Lulu frowned. Then she raised her arms and spoke a word.

The mild breeze whipped into stronger winds, causing the girls below to scream irritatingly. Ven felt like hands were tugging insistently at him. He staggered unwillingly to his feet and was buffeted about. It was hard to keep his footing amidst the windy gusts; after struggling for a minute, he found himself at the very edge. His knees were pressed against the bricks, his arms outstretched in an instinctive attempt at resistance, his hair whipping his face. For a minute, he hung poised, fighting hard to stay upright. Then he lost the battle and went pitching forward.

His mouth opened in a strangled cry, but then he clenched his teeth together. He did not want the girls to hear him scream. He did not feel as panicked as he expected, though. It was not a swift, deadly fall; rather, he seemed to descend in a series of sluggish, controlled drops that ended with him tumbling completely unhurt in a sprawl at Lulu's feet. He got up ungracefully, his face red.

"Hello, Ven," Lulu said cordially.

He looked away, not answering. The other girls were tittering like angry birds.

"What's the big idea?"

"Why were you spying on us?"

"You're such a freak!"

Ven was shocked into meeting her eyes when Lulu spoke to him again. "Ven, treat me to something."

"Wh-What?" Her eyes were glittering with some kind of emotion. "I...well...I can't-"

"Are you out of your _mind_, Lulu?"

"What about practice?"

Lulu suddenly rounded on them. "I'm sorry, but I don't call _this_ practice. I'd rather hang out with the school outcast than continue to let you all _waste my time_." She seized Ven's hand and marched away.

He struggled to keep up with her, too shocked and confused to speak. Finally he got his wits together and said in a shaking voice, "Lulu? I don't get it."

She paused. Then she turned, looked him straight in the eye, and said, "I'm not your girlfriend or anything, Ventus. I'm just angry right now, and I want a treat, and I know you'll buy me one because you like me, and I don't want to be around my friends right now but I don't want to be alone, and...there you were. You're not stalking me, are you?"

Ven did not know what to make of this speech - indeed, he barely understood it, except that Lulu seemed to be saying one thing while actually meaning another, and that she expected him to buy her something. He finally said, "I can't really...be seen right now."

She frowned in confusion. "What?"

He closed his eyes, stuck his hands in his pockets, and leaned against the side of the building they were standing next to. "I ran away," he said in a low voice. "Mom's gonna kill me if I get caught. I only went to school to hide." He did not realize until the words left his mouth how pathetic that sounded. He lifted his head and faced her. It wasn't like she liked him or anything. "...Your friends are right. I really am a loser."

She studied him. "Yes."

He closed his eyes again.

"Sort of. Not entirely."

"What?" He stared at her, trying and failing to figure her out.

"You mess up so much. It's kind of sad to watch. But I don't think that's really...who you are. It just seems like...you're trapped in there."

Someone understood. _Someone understood._ Ven felt light-headed.

"The wind really loves you, you know," she said softly.

"What?"

"The wind. Your hearts speak to each other, it will do whatever you want."

"..."

She sighed. "Never mind. I feel like muffins, let's go to CeeGee's."

"I can't," Ven mumbled. "They call the p- um...they don't like me going in there."

"Oh...all right. How about doughnuts at Riverside, then?"

"..."

"Mac's Pizza?" she tried, disbelief creping into her voice.

"...No. ... I don't feel like pizza."

"Is there _anywhere_ we can go where they won't kick you out?" she said in exasperation.

Ven squirmed. "The ice cream guy will still sell me stuff, but...you're gonna have to buy it. I told you, I can't be seen." _'And even if I could, Kadaj took all my munny.'_

She gave him a long look that made him want to sink into the ground. Trying to escape the attention, he looked away and mumbled, "I like sea-salt. The blue ones."

"Maybe this was a mistake," she mumbled to herself as she stalked ahead.

Dispirited, Ven went to sit on someone's stoop, hidden by a trash can on one side and a wall on the other. Lulu was gone for a very long time. He had run out of stuff to daydream about, was getting bored, and had almost decided that she had run off and he might as well leave, when Lulu finally appeared in front of him.

"Where _were_ you?" she exclaimed.

"Where were _you_?" he shot back.

"I couldn't find you," she said in frustration. "You weren't there when I got back."

"I've been here the whole time."

"Thank you for telling me," she huffed, holding out one of the ice creams. "Here. They're melting."

"Why didn't you make him sell you fresh ones?" he said in annoyance.

"They _were_ fresh when I bought them." Lulu shook her head. "Never mind. Let's just go eat on that bench over there."

"No, let's stay here."

She looked at him in disbelief. "The stoop's dirty. And I'm not going to eat next to a trash can."

"What's your problem?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Just so you know, you are not improving my opinion of you."

Sulkily, Ven got up and shuffled after her. They sat down on a white wooden bench in the shade of a blossoming tree, where they had a nice view of the whole square and the mermaid fountain in the middle.

"See, isn't this better?"

"..." It was so open and exposed. His time was going to be very limited.

"I've never tasted the sea-salt flavor. I got some for myself, so I could give it a try."

"You've _never_ had sea-salt?" he said in surprise. He was beginning to feel a little bad about ticking her off, though he was not sure exactly how he had displeased her. "You _have_ to try it. It's the best."

"Yes, that's what I'm doing now."

Ven tore open the package, which by now was a quarter full of liquid ice cream. He hissed in annoyance at the mess and wiped his hands as best as he could on his jeans. He had taken several bites before he realized that Lulu was staring at him, eyes wide in disbelief. "What?"

"..." Her eyes moved from him to the ground. When she returned her gaze to him, her expression was closed and disapproving.

After staring back at her in confusion for a while, Ven _finally_ realized what her problem was. Reluctantly, he reached down to pick up the plastic wrapper he had discarded, holding the tip of it between his thumb and index finger in distaste. _'What does she expect me to do with it?'_ Finally, he stood up and pushed the dripping wrapper into his side pocket. He could feel the other stuff in there getting all wet and sticky with melted ice cream, but if Lulu was happy, it was worth it. Probably. Maybe.

There was a long silence. Finally, Lulu held out her own ice cream wrapper and said in a deliberate voice, "Ventus, will you be a gentleman and throw this away for me, in _the garbage can that is ten steps away_?"

...Oh. "Yeah," he mumbled, taking the trash and heading off to properly dispose of it.

They just sat there for a while after he got back, eating their ice creams and not speaking. _'Say something,'_ Ven thought at himself angrily. He had no idea how to make conversation. He could not think of anything interesting to say, so he finally just blurted something out and hoped it wouldn't be lame. "That play of yours didn't make any sense."

"It's a sort of Jane Austen mashup," she said, a little stiffly. "My mother and I have been reading those books together, so I thought it would be fun to do an Austenesque story for the drama project."

"'Thought' being the key word there," Ven laughed.

She sighed. "Yes."

"I kind of want to go watch it now. It'll be really funny when your friends mess up."

"That doesn't make me feel better, Ventus."

"Oh." He had not even realized she wanted to feel better.

A shadow fell over them. Ven stiffened.

"Hello, Officer," Lulu said coldly. "Is there a problem?"

"Hello, Lulu," Carlson said. "All your friends were busy today?"

"Mm," she murmured non-committally.

"Kids, I'm really sorry to interrupt, but - Ven, you know why I'm here."

Ven took another bite of ice cream.

"Ventus."

Ven abruptly jumped to his feet and stalked away without a word, forcing Carlson to jog a little to catch up with him.

They moved along for a while in silence. Ven finished his ice cream and tossed the stick aside defiantly. As Carlson picked it up, Ven increased his pace and considered making a run for it before Carlson's thundering "Don't even _think_ about it, Ventus King" rang out behind him.

Ven froze, then kicked his shoe off. It felt both good and entirely unsatisfying, so he kicked off his other shoe and then ran to pick them up, flinging them both as hard as he could into the distance while yelling at the top of his voice. Still screaming, he fell to his knees and pounded his fists against the ground until it hurt too much to continue, so desperate was he for some sense of resistance, something solid to simply _be_ there and _stay_ there. Then he just huddled there and focused every ounce of his being on trying to hold the tears in.

After a while, he became aware of Carlson kneeling beside him, patting his back soothingly. It felt nice, and for one long, long moment, he was torn between hurling himself at the man to tear him up, or letting himself be comforted. Eventually, common sense won out and Ven uncurled a little, sobbing dryly.

"You want to talk about it?" Carlson murmured.

"I hate my mom!" Ven screamed. "I hate her I hate her I HATE HER!"

"She's making you work hard today, huh."

"I hate her! I hate her! I want to play with Chocolate!"

"...You want to play with chocolate?"

Ven suddenly sat up, staring at Carlson in apprehension. "I got a new puppy," he mumbled shyly.

"Oh! A puppy?"

"He's all black and brown like someone spilled paint on him. He's a really bad dog."

"Well, all puppies tend to get into trouble. Is he cute?"

Ven grinned.

"He's a cutie, huh."

"No, he's really ugly and tough," Ven said eagerly. "When he grows up, he can tear off the leg of a full-grown man!"

"Sounds ferocious. Maybe I'll get to see him when I drop you off."

Ven scrambled to his feet and paced around in agitated circles, thinking, _'Run away, run away, run away.'_ He wanted to be bad. He wanted to be so bad, the worst. But he also did not want to be punished, and he was already in huge trouble. _'Ruuun awaaay!'_ He didn't.

Carlson came up to him. "You ready to go?"

"No!" was the automatic response.

"C'mon, let's go."

"No!" Ven grasped Carlson's arm lightly, almost questioningly, wondering if he dared actually push him. Before he could make up his mind, Carlson wrapped him in a restraining hold, but somehow it didn't feel truly restricting like a real one would have, and the man's voice was playful as he growled, "Soooo, Mr. King, gonna add assault of a police officer to the list?"

"No," Ven giggled, twisting away. He reached for Carlson's arm again, this time to push him in jest, his eyes sparkling.

"Eh, now, that looks like aggression to me," Carlson laughed.

Their hands met and they struggled together, trying to push each other back. Finally, Carlson let him win, and Ven shrieked with laughter as he watched the man stumble back ungracefully into the sand beside the road. "Beat you, beat you, _beat you_!"

"Man, all that training for nothing," Carlson mock-lamented, stepping back onto the pavement.

"Mom said she'd take Chocolate back to the store if I was bad," Ven remembered. His fragile happiness instantly dissolved, and something inside him broke. He began to cry for real, too tired now to hold back.

Carlson put an arm around his shoulders, and Ven leaned into him. "I should just go kill him now," Ven sobbed. "Because I can never, never, _never_ be good, and she'll take Chocolate away and at least if I kill him, I'll know where he is! I...'ll...!"

"Ven," Carlson said softly, "Chocolate trusts you. He loves you. Just picture how he would look at you if you ever did something cruel to him."

Ven sobbed harder.

"Ventus. Ven, ssh, listen. Your mother won't take Chocolate away, and even if she does, you know what? _I'll_ adopt Chocolate. Mrs. Carlson and I will take care of him for you, and you can see him every time you come over."

Ven went silent, and very still.

"Doesn't that sound better than what you were saying before?"

Ven gripped the man's shirt tightly in his fists and jerked until Carlson had bent down closer to him. "Promise," Ven hissed fiercely. "_Promise me_."

"I promise you, Ventus. We will take care of Chocolate if you can't."

All grown-ups were liars. Kids were liars, too. Promises meant nothing, but Ven did not know what else to do. He felt trapped.

Perfectly solemn, Carlson raised his fist, pinkie finger crooked out.

Grown-ups didn't let themselves look silly, either. Ven relaxed a little, returning the gesture. "Cross your heart and hope to die," he challenged.

"Stick a needle in my eye," Carlson finished generously. Ven finally smiled a little, relieved. "Now c'mon, let's go get your shoes."

"Oh yeah."

o.o.o.o.o

When they got home, Ven half-hid behind Carlson as the man rang the doorbell. Ven's mother opened the door at once with a stormy look on her face. Ven seized the blue uniform shirt tightly in both fists as she reached to grab him, but both of them were surprised when Carlson put out a hand to stop her. "Mrs. King, could I please speak to you privately for a moment?" he asked quietly.

She stared at him. "What?"

"He wants you to STFU and go inside," Ven snarled.

His mother shrieked and lunged for him, but Carlson managed to hold her off. "Mrs. Ki- Sapphique! Sapph_ique_, stop it, he's just trying to get a rise out of you!"

She paused, glaring.

"Sapphique, please. Just step outside for a moment; Ven, you're the one who needs to go in."

"I'm staying on the effing porch! I'm gonna run off again! Don't stop me! I'll kick you!"

"Ven-"

"_No_!" Ven usually tried to hold it in check around adults, but it was just rushing and rushing as he screamed profanity as loudly as he could.

"Shut your dirty mouth!" his mother was screaming back, and for a minute, no one could hear themselves think. Then Carlson put his hands on Ven's shoulders and said in a low, intent voice, "Ventus King, hush, I know you're scared, but this is not helping."

Ven broke off in surprise.

"Please go in the house, Ven. I want to talk to your mother so she won't be upset when I leave you two alone."

"I'm not scared," Ven hissed fiercely. "I'm not scared of _her_, and I'm not scared of _you_, I'll hurt her and you can't make me do what I don't want to do, you can't-!" His attacks were complete failures, as he had known they would be, and it was not until he was in a restraining hold that he realized how tense he was. "Lemme go," he said sullenly.

"Ventus. Do you think you'll be able to walk calmly into the house and shut the door and stick around until you're ready to work things out with your family?"

"I'm not a baby! Don't talk to me like I'm a baby!"

"Ventus. Will you do this?"

"Yeah! Yes! Yes, _sir_!" Ven shouted angrily. "Let me _go_!"

"Don't just answer on autopilot."

To Ven's fury, he felt himself on the verge of tears again. What the _freak_, why was his body trying to cry when crying was the last thing he felt like doing? "Aaaaahhhh!" he shouted instead.

"Ven." The voice was lower than ever, speaking slowly and distinctly. "Will you do me a favor and walk into the house and shut the door and wait patiently? You are very capable of doing this. Will you?"

So often the emotions just seized him, but suddenly it felt like he had a choice. Ven deflated. Noticed that Carlson was waiting patiently for him. Felt a little appreciative of that in a tiny corner of his mind. Finally went very still and said in a low voice, "I'll walk inside."

His mother started to snarl something sarcastic, but Carlson talked right over her so that Ven could not make out the words. "Good man. Good choice. Thank you, Ven."

Ven expected to be released slowly and cautiously, but the gesture was so trustingly casual that it killed any lingering thoughts of running off again. Without looking at his mother, Ven marched to the door, grasped the edge, and paused, glancing apprehensively at Carlson as he half-hid behind it. The man's smile was unexpected but reassuring. Ven did not realize that he smiled back as he shut the door.

At first he tried shamelessly to eavesdrop, but the sound of his mother's muffled shouting made his chest feel tight. He crept away and went to find Chocolate. "Hey, puppy," he crooned as the creature threw itself into a fit of excitement at his approach. "Hey there, Choco. You missed me? You missed me a lot?"

He played with the ecstatic puppy until he heard the approach of heavy footsteps. He meant to go somewhere with more escape routes before they reached him, but then his mother and Carlson were in the doorway, and there was nowhere to go. Ven snatched up Chocolate in his arms and backed up against the wall, glaring for all he was worth.

Carlson's voice was measured and friendly. "Well, I'm gonna take off now, Ven. You think you can handle everything?"

Ven did not answer. His mother opened her mouth and evidently tried to say something, but nothing coherent came out.

"Sapphique? You gonna be all right?"

"Yes," she said tightly. "Yes. You can go." The adults exchanged a last meaningful look, and then Carlson left. Ven and his mother both just stood there and listened until he had shut the front door. Then their eyes met, and Ven opened his mouth to yell, but she got in first. "Shut _up_. Shut up, Ven. My temper is hanging by a thread."

He clenched his teeth tightly together, willing his voice to stay inside.

"Now." She spoke in a strange, disjointed way, as if someone was choking her. They both felt keenly how narrow the edge was that they were treading. "You have a choice. Ven. You lose Chocolate for the night, for the _entire_ night, or you go over my knee. You get to _pick_."

He was so, so tempted to scream something hasty and rebellious, but he knew that with the mood she was in, she _would_ take him at his word. Yet he also wondered if he really would willingly endure it this time for Chocolate's sake.

The pause to think cleared his head a little, and another possibility occurred to him. Speaking in a low voice to keep himself calm, he asked, "Can I...not eat dinner and breakfast, and get to keep Chocolate?" Withholding meals had always been taboo in their household, but that was his mother's rule, he didn't care. He had long ago grown used to not being provided enough to eat.

Her face was conflicted. "You can't skip meals."

"_Please_," he begged. "Please don't take Chocolate. Please."

She was gritting her teeth. Finally she said slowly, "You have to have breakfast. I'll...let you go without dinner, and Chocolate can sleep with you _if_ you wash the sheets again if he pees, but you can't have him until bedtime."

His grip tightened, and he started to open his mouth.

"That's _it_," she said harshly. "OR you can lose him for the ENTIRE night, OR you can-"

"O-_kay_!" he shouted. "Okay! No Chocolate 'til bedtime! Shut-!"

The look on her face. Ven clapped his hand over his mouth, horrified at the realization that he had ruined it when he was so close to winning.

After a very long pause, her mouth quirked a little. "What did you say?"

"N-Nothing, ma'am," he said meekly, cautiously. It was so weird, how grown-ups could suddenly show mercy at the strangest times.

"That's what I thought. Now put the dog down and come here."

Very reluctantly, he put down Chocolate and tried to leave, but the sight of the puppy romping along after him broke his heart. He could not have left if his mother had not grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the bathroom and shut the door.

They could hear Chocolate whining pathetically on the other side. Ven reached vaguely for the doorknob, but his mother pulled him away and dragged him downstairs. He was crying by the time she sat down with him on the couch. She held him for along time. "Ventus," she finally said softly.

For once, he had no arguments, so he ignored her.

"Ven...I love you. I love you so much. You know that, right?" When he still did not answer, she cupped her hand beneath his jaw and lifted his face so that she could see his eyes. "Ven, I love you."

Since she apparently was not going to leave him alone, he finally said, "I know."

"..."

"I'm...sorry for..." For what? "For making you mad."

She kissed his temple and held him close until he finally got bored and pulled away.

_To be continued..._

Author's Notes: Again, I have a feeling this fic needs warning labels, I'm just not sure what they should be. I pretty much work in special education for a living, so I don't know what it's like reading this fic with a different sort of background.

**Unfortunately, I'm probably going to be a lamebrain and not update this fic for a long time. I apologize in advance. :/** I only posted it now (what is currently published is all I have written so far, except for half a paragraph) because I felt it was urgent to get it published before Dream Drop Distance comes out in a few days and potentially shatters everything I thought I knew about Vanitas. *sweatdrop*

***SPOILER*** Btw, I don't know how long it's gonna take me to reveal this, but Sapphique is actually Ven's aunt - she and her husband adopted him when he was very young because of some issues with his birth mother (who, for example, didn't bother to feed him much. And I know that kids in that situation usually hoard food instead of being willing to go without it, so I'm going to have to figure out how to handle that in the final draft). Sora is actually Ven's cousin in this universe, though they obviously would have been raised as brothers. And since we're in the spoilers section, let me just say that there is a reason this fic's second genre is "tragedy."


End file.
